Sleep Issues

The baby has "sleep issues". Saying that outloud makes me laugh because well, duh! She's a baby, of course she does. Really aren't "sleep issues" probably a more normal state of things than a baby who is a good sleeper? In this house that's surely been the case.

So what do you do with an 18 month old who suddenly refuses to go to sleep? If your my husband you take her down to the family room and have her watch interesting (boring) science television. Of course all that happens is he falls asleep and you are left as the sole defense against a little tiny fortress who refuses to yield.

You set about to complete your "before bed" tasks. You know, running the dishwasher so there are clean bowls for breakfast. Getting the coffee pot set to go so you are actually coherent enough to serve breakfast. Filling up sippy cups of milk so that your kids can help themselves at 0'dark hundred when they wake up, letting you sleep just ten more minutes (a girl can dream can't she?). The baby meanwhile is happily unloading the tupperware cabinent, banging plastic plates together and chucking the straws and lids of sippy cups that you searched for hours to find.

Finally, sometime after 11 you acknowledge that you can not actually complete the tasks you need to with little miss wide awake in tow and you realize that you have to go to bed. Of course shortly after this revelation your 3 year old will appear, wondering what all the ruckuss is. She will need a drinkie and to use the potty before she goes back to bed of course and by then she will want to sleep with you and since your husband is snoring away on the couch in the family room you figure why not.

20 minutes later when you are laying in bed with a sweaty baby who has finally fallen asleep on top you your arm in such a way you can not move and the 3 year old is digging her bony little knees into your back you remember "why not". You manage to fall asleep and have fitful dreams about camping and sleeping on top of that rock you accidentaly set your tent up on top of.

Sometime around 1 your husband will wake up and realize he is on the couch and will come POUNDING up the stairs which happen to share a wall with your bedroom. You are awake. The baby is awake and even the cat is awake. Confused and convinced it must be morning he positions himself at the foot of your bed meowing because he wants you to get up and feed him his daily allotment of wet food. Tough break cat!

Your husband seeing the collection of children in your bed (because oh by the way your 6 year old has climbed in at some point you don't remember) starts picking them up and shuffling them back off to their own beds so he can claim the place beside you he has rightfully earned. You lay back enjoying the feeling of a king sized bed with only two people in it, close your eyes and...you can't fall back to sleep. You are wide awake. You toss and turn for a good hour, looking at the clock every ten minutes or so until you finally fall asleep at some point. Right about the time you hit REM you are jostled awake by that little voice on the baby monitor yelling "Mommmmmie, mommmmmie."

You bring her back to bed with you and try to fall asleep again. You must at some point although it's not good sleep. It's mostly you lying there trying to convince yourself that your asleep. Sometime around 6:30 the three year old tells you it's time for wakey and asks you to turn on Nogin. Somehow you manage to stumble down the stairs to do this and then stumble back up to get coffee. You are intercepted on your way to the coffee pot by the cat who is now angry and DEMANDING his breakfast.

You finally get to pour that coffee and realize that while one child is occupied and the other two are still asleep you can finish all the stuff you couldn't last night. You figure the baby was up all night she's got to sleep until 8 at least! Then, you hear it, quietly at first. You think maybe it's just a bird. It becomes louder and unmistakeable. "Mommmmie, mommmmie, maaaahhhhhhmmmmmmeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiii."

You look around at the pile of dishes, the mountain of laundry and all the other things left undone. You go to get her, frustrated by the "sleep issues" wondering what the heck it is you can do to make the baby sleep. Then you see her. She's sitting in the middle of your bed playing with the covers. She looks up at you, holds her arms out and says, "Mommie!" That smile? I'd trade it for a lifetime of good sleep.